Current affairs

The Finnish Government submitted a proposal on Finland’s accession to NATO to Parliament on 5 December. The consultation on the draft proposal generated about 1,600 responses. The Government reviewed the proposal based on the responses and supplemented the rationale with specifications concerning cooperation between the Government and the President of the Republic, Parliament’s role in the handling of NATO matters and in making decisions on them, and the status of Åland Islands under international law.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto visited Kyiv, Ukraine, on 28 November together with Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers. In Kyiv, the foreign ministers met the President and the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, among others, and reaffirmed their countries’ firm support to Ukraine.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto will attend a meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest from 29 to 30 November.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs requests opinions on the draft Decree of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Fees for Services Produced by the Foreign Service in 2023. The consultation round will be open until 7 December 2022. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs proposes an increase of EUR 20 to the fee for the EU Emergency Travel Document (ETD) issued to EU citizens.